Mobile cleaning apparatus

ABSTRACT

Mobile cleaning apparatus including a roller supported frame carrying a container for holding a supply of cleaning liquid, a sprayer head connected to a length of flexible tubing for spraying a cleaning liquid entrained in a stream of water, a venturi unit having a main water flow passageway and a cleaning liquid inlet, a water flow control valve connected across the passageway of the venturi unit, and a pair of pressure regulating valves connected in parallel between the outlet of the pump and the inlet of the venturi unit and water flow control valve. The pressure regulating valves have water bypassing outlets which open at two widely different pressures. A water control valve is placed in the water bypass line of the pressure regulating valve which opens at the lower pressure.

United States Patent Levy [451 Aug. 1,1972

MOBILE CLEANING APPARATUS Edward M. Levy, Evanston, Ill.

Chemtrust Industries Corporation, Maywood, 111.

June 28, 1971 Inventor:

Assignec:

Filed:

Appl. No.:

US. Cl ..239/ 146 Int. Cl. ..B05b 9/02 [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS l/ l 962 Boehm ..239/ 147. X l/1963 Mason, Jr. et a1..239/l24 X 4/1966 Techler et al. ..239/1 24 X 3,380,658 5/1968 Stasz eta1. ..239/146 X 3,589,614 6/1971 Linville ..239/l46 X FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 295,544 8/1928 Great Britain ..239/ 146 Field of Search..239/ 146, 147, 124

709,759 6/1954 Great Britain ..239/l46 Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood,Jr. Assistant ExaminerThomas C. Culp, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT Mobile cleaning apparatus including a roller supportedframe carrying a container for holding a supply of cleaning liquid, asprayer head connected to a length of flexible tubing for spraying acleaning liquid entrained in a stream of water, a venturi unit having amain water flow passageway and a cleaning liquid inwidely differentpressures. A water control valve is placed in the water bypass line ofthe pressure regulating valve which opens at the lower pressure.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAHB 1 m2 SHEET 1 OF 2 .[NMSN roR Eawmea M Levy PATENTEDAus 1 I972 3,680,786

sum 2 or 2 WA TER SQURC E INVENTOR [aw/m0 M Lew ATM s.

MOBILE CLEANING APPARATUS This invention relates to mobile cleaningapparatus for use in heavyduty cleaning applications requiringtheselective application of detergent or other cleaning compositionsdissolved in water or the application of water alone for rinsingpurposes.

The present invention provides a highly unique and advantageous mobilecleaning system which can be manually propelled to a desired cleaninglocation and by the operation of a minimum number of manually operablecontrol members selectively provides for the spraying of a solution of acleaning material or rinse water at either one of at least two sprayrates. To this end, the mobile cleaning system includes a cart-formingframe on rollers or the like with spraying apparatus mounted thereon.The sprayingapparatus includes a water inlet coupling for connection toa flexible hose or tubing extending to a source of hot or cold water andoutlet couplings for connection to one or more flexible hoses or tubingextending to one or more sprayer heads from which water or a solution ofa cleaning material in water may be selectively sprayed. The water inletcoupling extends to a parallel connection of a venturi unit and anon-off valve having a manually operable control member for opening andclosing the valve. The

cart-forming frame includes one or morecontainers carrying aconcentrated liquid detergent or other cleaning material to be entrainedin the water to be sprayed. The venturi unit includes an inlet connectedby flexible tubing or the like to one of the containers of cleaningmaterial. When the valve in parallel with the venturi unit is closed,the venturi unit receives water from the inlet coupling and the waterpassing through the venturi unit creates a suctionwhich draws theconcentrated cleaning materials intothe stream of water flowing throughthe venturi unit. Opening of the valve in parallel with the venturi unitcauses the water to bypass the venturi unit so only rinse water passesfrom the one or more sprayer heads involved.

The inlet ends of the venturi unit and the last mentioned valve extendto the main outlets of a pair of pressure regulating valves whichinclude bypass outlets which are opened by bypass water from the mainoutlets thereof when the water pressure at the inlets theretorespectively reaches two widely spaced pressures. The inlets to thepressure regulating valves extend to the outlet of a motor driven pumpwhose inlet is coupled to the aforementioned water inlet coupling of themobile cart. An on-off valve having a manually operable control memberis positioned in the bypass line of the pressure regulating valve whichopens at the lowest pressure, so that closure of this valve render theregulating valve involved inoperable to control pressure in the system,which will then be controlled by the pressure regulating valve set toopen at the higher pressure. When the latter valve is open, the pressureregulating valve which opens at the lower pressure will be efiective incontrolling pressure of the water at the sprayer head. In this manner,there will be a selection of flow rates of water flowing through the oneor more sprayer heads involved. (The flow rate is also varied inaccordance with the number of sprayer heads connected to the outletcoupling of the spraying apparatus). Each sprayer head is also providedwith a manually operable control member which operates an associatedvalve to control the flow of water therethrough.

The above features of the invention will be more fully understood uponmaking reference to the exemplary embodiment of the invention describedin the specification to follow and shown in the drawings wherein: 7

FIG. 1 is the perspective view of the mobile cleaning system of theinvention constructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the mobile cleaningsystem'shown in FIG. 1, taken along section line 2-2 thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view, partly broken away, ofthe mobile cleaning system of FIG. 1;

I and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the paths for flow of waterinto and out of the mobile cleaning system of FIG. 1 and the variousvalves and other apparatus affecting the flow of water therethrough;

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 1, the mobile cleaning systemthereshown generally indicated by reference numeral 2 includes acart-forming frame 4 having front and rear vertical walls 6 and 6',bottom and top walls 8 and 10, a side wall 12 extending between the sidemargins of the front and rear walls 6 and 6' and a narrow vertical sidewall 14 extending a short distance forwardly from the rear wall 6'. The

cart-forming frame 4 is supported on suitable wheels or rollers 7attached to the bottom wall 8 thereof. The rear wall 6 includes aircirculating louvers 16 and the short side wall 14 includes similarlouvers 18. A large opening 20 is provided in one side of the frame 4through which most of the components of the mobile cleaning systemmounted in the housing formed by the frame walls are exposed forservicing or the like. A handle 22 extends rearwardly from the frame4 atapproximately the elevation of the top wall 10, so that the mobilecleaning system can be readily manually propelled to the. desiredlocation. A sheet metal container support rack 25 extends upward fromthe top wall 10 of the frame 4 and includes side walls 2646' and a topwall 28 having three large circular'openings 30 into which extendcylindrical, concentrated cleaning liquid holding containers 32. Each ofthe containers 32 as shown includes a handle 34 and an initially cappedopening 36. The cleaning liquid is removed from a selected containerthrough a tube 35 extending into the opening 36 when the cap is removedthere from, in a manner to be described.

There is preferably supported from the front wall 6 a water inletcoupling 40 to which may be connected a flexible hose 42 or the likeextending to a suitable source of water, which is most advantageously asource of hot water. A pair of water outlet couplings 44-44 having acommon inlet 46 are also shown mounted upon the front wall 6. An unusedwater outlet coupling 44' has a cap 47 thereon to close off the outletcoupling 44'. The water output coupling 44 has connected thereto aflexible outlet hose48 extending to a sprayer head 50 having a pistolgrip-like handle 52 with a valve operating control member 53 resemblingthe trigger of a gun. The squeezing of the control member 53 will open avalve within the sprayer head to permit water to flow through the nozzle55 of the sprayer head connected at the end of a long sprayer head tube54. If desired, another sprayer head may be connected through a flexiblehose to the other water output coupling 44' so two operators maysimultaneously use the mobile cleaning system.

The front wall 6 of the mobile cleaning system also supports a pair ofcontrol valves 56 and 57 having manually operable control handles 56 and57' respectively movable between valve opening and valve closingpositions. Control valve 56 is located in a conduit path in parallelwith a conduit path including a venturi unit 58 mounted on the frontwall 6. The outlets of the venturi unit 58 and the control valve 56 areconnected to the common inlet of the outlet couplings 44 and 44'. Theventuri unit 58 has a suction inlet 60 to which the aforementioned tube35 is connected extending from a selected one of the containers 32supported at the top of the frame 4. When the control handle 56' isoperated to a valve opening position, water flows through the valve 56and bypasses the conduit path including the venturi unit 58 so that onlywater passes into the water output couplings 44 and 44'. Operation ofthe valve control handle 56' to a valve closing position causes water toflow through the venturi unit 58 to create a suction at the inlet 60thereof, thereby to effect the entrainment of the concentrated cleaningmaterial in the container 32 into the moving stream of water passingthrough the venturi unit 58.

The control handle 57' of the other control valve 57 is operable betweenvalve opening and valve closing positions to vary the pressure of thewater at the inlet to the sprayer head 50. For example, in oneapplication of the invention, the selection of pressure was 700 and1,000 pounds per square inch. Although other mounting positions may beused, as illustrated, the front wall 6 also supports a pressure gaugewhich indicates the pressure of the water at the outlet couplings 44 and44', and a switch 64 controlling the energization and deenergization ofa motor 66 (FIGS. 2 and 3). The shaft of the motor is connected by apulley and belt coupling generally indicated by reference numeral 68 toa pump 70 which together with the other apparatus to be described arelocated within the housing formed by the various walls of the frame 4.The pump 70 has a water inlet 72 connected through a surge arrestor 74,which minimizes sudden pressure changes in the water delivered to thepump 10, conduit means 76 and a one way valve 79 to the bottom portionof a tank 78. The valve 79 prevents water from bypass line 94 fromentering the tank 78. The tank 78 contains a conventional float valve 80which keeps the water in the tank 78 at a given elevation. A water inletconduit 81 extends between the upper portion of the tank 78 to the waterinlet coupling 40.

The pump 70 has an outlet 83 connected to another surge arrestor 82whose outlet is connected in common to the inlets 84 and 84 of pressureregulating valves 86 and 86' having main outlets 88 and 88' which areconnected to conduit 62 extending to the inlet of the venturi unit 58and the control valve 56. Bypass lines 92 and 92' as illustrated, extendfrom bypass outlets 90 and 90' of the pressure regulating valves 86 and86' to a common conduit 94 extending to the surge arrestor 74 torecirculate water flowing in the bypass lines to the inlet side of thepump 70. The aforementioned control valve 57 controlled by the controlhandle 57' is located in the bypass line 92-associated with the pressureregulating valve 86 which established a low pressure at the outletthereof. In the exemplary form of the invention, the bypass outlet 90 ofpressure regulating valve 86 is normally closed and opens when the inletpressure to the valve 86 reaches the pressure of 700 pounds per squareinch. Similarly, the bypass outlet 90' of the pressure regulating valve86 opens when the inlet pressure to the valve reaches 1,000 pounds persquare inch. When the control valve 57 in the bypass line 92 of thepressure regulating valve 86' is closed, the high pressure regulatingvalve 86 is effective to establish the high pressure of 1,000 pounds persquare inch. When the control valve 57 is opened, the low pressureregulating valve 86 is effective to establish the low pressure of 700pounds per square inch.

It is apparent that the present invention provides an exceedinglyconvenient to use mobile cleaning system for selectively spraying awater solution of cleaning liquid or rinsing water. It should beunderstood, that numerous variations may be made in the most exemplaryform of the invention described without deviating from the broaderaspects of the invention.

Iclaim:

1. Mobile cleaning apparatus comprising a cartforming frame supported onwheels or rollers and having handle means to be manually grasped forpropelling the cleaning apparatus to a desired location; and saidcartforming frame having: an inlet coupling for connection to anexternal source of water to be sprayed, a container for holding a supplyof a cleaning material to be entrained in the water, a sprayer headconnected to flexible tubing through which sprayer head water or thecleaning material entrained in the water may be selectively sprayed, afirst control valve for said sprayer head which valve has a manuallyoperable control member movable between valve opening and closingpositions where flow of water from the sprayer head is permitted orblocked, a pump and a motor connected to drive the pump, said pumphaving an inlet coupled with said inlet coupling and an outlet fromwhich water is pumped under pressure, first and second parallelconnected pressure regulating valves each having an inlet coupled to theoutlet of said pump, a main outlet from which water is to be fed to theflexible tubing of said sprayer head and a pressure-responsive bypassingoutlet coupled through a bypass line to the inlet of said pump andcoupled to the inlet of the associated valve to bypass water from themain outlet of the regulating valves only when a given inlet waterpressure is reached, the water pressures rendering said bypass lines ofsaid first and second pressure regulating valves effective at pressureswhich are respectively substantially different, and second and thirdcontrol valves each having a manually operable control member operablebetween valve opening and valve closing positions, said second controlvalve being positioned in the bypass line of the pressure regulatingvalve having a bypass outlet which opens at the lower pressure, so theclosure thereof renders the other pressure regulating valve operative tocontrol the pressure of the water to be sprayed and so the openingthereof makes the lower pressure regulating valve operable to controlthe water pressure, each of said second and third valves having aconnected with the interior of said container, the flow of water throughsaid main passageway of said liquid entraining unit drawing liquid fromsaid container into said passageway, the operation of said manuallyoperable control member of said third control valve to said valveclosing position rendering said liquid entraining unit effective toreceive water from the outlets of one of said pressure regulating valvesand the operation thereof to a valve opening position causing the waterto bypass said liquid entraining unit.

# r a: a a

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,680,786 Dated August 1, 1972 Inven EDWARD M. LEVY It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 4', lines 50 and 51, delete "coupled through a. .associated valveto"; line 52, before "water" delete "bypass" and insert for bypassingline 67 after "third", insert control Signed and sealed this 1st day ofMay 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR.

ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORMF'O-1050 (10-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 i U. 57 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICEI969 0-356-334.

1. Mobile cleaning apparatus comprising a cart-forming frame supportedon wheels or rollers and having handle means to be manually grasped forpropelling the cleaning apparatus to a desired location; and saidcart-forming frame having: an inlet coupling for connection to anexternal source of water to be sprayed, a container for holding a supplyof a cleaning material to be entrained in the water, a sprayer headconnected to flexible tubing through which sprayer head water or thecleaning material entrained in the water may be selectively sprayed, afirst control valve for said sprayer head which valve has a manuallyoperable control member movable between valve opening and closingpositions where flow of water from the sprayer head is permitted orblocked, a pump and a motor connected to drive the pump, said pumphaving an inlet coupled with said inlet coupling and an outlet fromwhich water is pumped under pressure, first and second parallelconnected pressure regulating valves each having an inlet coupled to theoutlet of said pump, a main outlet from which water is to be fed to theflexible tubing of said sprayer head and a pressure-responsive bypassingoutlet coupled through a bypass line to the inlet of said pump andcoupled to the inlet of the associated valve to bypass water from themain outlet of the regulating valves only when a given inlet waterpressure is reached, the water pressures rendering said bypass lines ofsaid first and second pressure regulating valves effective at pressureswhich are respectively substantially different, and second and thirdcontrol valves each having a manually operable control member operablebetween valve opening and valve closing positions, said second controlvalve being positioned in the bypass line of the pressure regulatingvalve having a bypass outlet which opens at the lower pressure, so theclosure thereof renders the other pressure regulating valve operative tocontrol the pressure of the water to be sprayed and so the openingthereof makes the lower pressure regulating valve operable to controlthe water pressure, each of said second and third valves having amanually operable control member for opening and closing the valve, aliquid entraining unit, said liquid entraining unit and said thirdcontrol valve being connected in parallel conduit paths between saidmain outlets of said pressure regulating valves and said flexible tubingconnected to said sprayer head, said liquid entraining unit having amain passageway through which liquid flows from said main outlets ofsaid pressure regulating valves and a cleaning liquid suction inletconnected with the interior of said container, the flow of water throughsaid main passageway of said liquid entraining unit drawing liquid fromsaid container into said passageway, the operation of said manuallyoperable control member of said third control valve to said valveclosing position rendering said liquid entraining unit effective toreceive water from the outlets of one of said pressure regulating valvesand the operation thereof to a valve opening position causing the waterto bypass saId liquid entraining unit.